There are key events in our lives that temper the core of what makes up who we are in the great scheme of life. Many of us have a sense of our place in God's Creation and know that his hand plays a central role in that greater destiny. Those who have not yet come to this realization are truly missing a great sense of purpose and usefulness that we all “need” to some degree. None of us are simply random lives and random events, …unless in our own spiritual blindness we have chosen to embrace such an uninspired philosophy. Benjamin Franklin stated at the Constitutional Convention of 1787, “ God governs in the affairs of man. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured in the Sacred Writings that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this. I also believe that, without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel”.
I have a firm sense of divine destiny and of God’s Hand in my life and in the lives of people around me in general. Most people, regrettably, have lost any sense of such a thing; pushing it into the realm of myths and fairy tales. Although as a generally very private man, I'm going a little out of character in this article in that I will reveal some of my personal life and a few small events that have inspired me in order to emphasize why my views are such that they are. I grew up poor in material things, but rich in love from my migrant worker/tenant cotton farmer parents. My father, Benjamin Weatherby Taylor turned to migrant farm work in the cotton fields of Northeast Texas, as did many other farmers, after losing his family homestead and farm to the banks and the ravages of The Great Depression and after his return from the second "Great War to End All Wars".
Almost a movie script rather than a scenario from real-life and a series of events that some might call Fate, but what I call God’s divine hand of destiny, my father met and married my mom, Georgia Laura Lucille Smith, the daughter of another East Texas farmer hard-hit by the Depression. That in itself isn’t unusual, but here’s “the rest of the story”. In those days, the Blackland Prairie, extending from north of Dallas to Central Texas east of Austin, was some of the most productive cotton country in the world as the Nation was struggling out of economic depression and the aftermath of World War II. Riding railcars to cotton harvesting areas, which was done in those days by hand using long canvass sacks, my Dad started following the cotton harvesting and met my Mom through her cousins who were also working in the cotton fields around Dallas. In fact, the very first memory of my life was of sitting under a cotton wagon watching both my parents in the field picking cotton and dragging one of those long canvass sacks.
The proof of divine destiny for me in the story of my parents was the fact that my father was one of the last people to see my mom’s youngest brother alive, although he didn’t know either him or her. My father, at that time Master Sergeant Taylor, had met a young soldier, 18 years old, from a group of fresh replacement troops on a battlefield of northeastern France and was unusually drawn to him enough to engage the “boy” in conversation. During their talk, the young man told my father his name was Jessie Smith from McKinney, Texas and that his family was also farmers. The young soldier seemed largely unfazed by the circumstance of a Texas farm boy working in the cotton and corn fields one day to within weeks being thrust into the role of a warrior on the bloody battlefields of Europe. My father could see a hint of concern about the death that surrounded them, so he assured the boy that he would be home soon.
Little did my father know the prophetic nature of the words he spoke to that young soldier. The next day, another soldier in my father’s platoon came over to him after a particularly heated engagement with a German Panzer division trying to pierce the American lines. He told him that the kid he was talking to yesterday had been killed in battle. Jessie Smith had gone home much sooner than Sergeant Taylor had expected, but not to the fertile farmlands of Northeast Texas.
Seven years later, after my father was introduced to my mom by her cousins, "my grandmother, Anna Mae Smith" told him about the death of her youngest son, Jesse, in France and showed him the telegram from the War Department and the American flag sent to her by the Army. My dad 90 years old on December 4, 2007, never talked about the war until well into his eighties and never told my grandmother or my mother, who died in 1982, the story of the sergeant and the young soldier standing behind a hedgerow in France talking about being back in Texas.
One day 8 or 10 years ago, he told my brother and I the story, saying it was one he didn’t want to carry to his grave and giving us insight into how the hand of God’s destiny plays an often unseen role in the lives of mankind. Upon asking my dad why he had kept such an interesting story to himself, he told me, “That was a terrible time of bloodshed and horror and I didn’t want your mom and grandmother to relive it and I didn’t want to relive it neither; …no one would have believed it anyway.” I could see the regret in his eyes at not having shared such a surreal story with my mom, as he changed the subject to telling me about watching General Patton ride his jeep on the frontlines inspiring his soldiers to victory firing his pearl-handled pistols in the direction of the Nazi lines. But such is the fabric of life we all live, filled with both inspiration and regret.
As most of our readers already know, for the past three years, I have personally been on the frontlines of the war against Codex Alimentarius, which is an attempt to control health supplement use around the world via International Treaty. As anyone with any study or research in the matter knows, it is simply an attempted power grab by multi-national pharmaceutical companies (The Pharma-Industrial Complex as I have named it; a take-off on “the Military-Industrial Complex” President Eisenhower warned us about as he was leaving office.) using the force of government to stop the use of health supplements as a personal healthcare choice. These peddlers of tyranny and influence have corrupted, not only mainstream medicine, but the very government agencies supposedly set up to protect the interests of "We The People".
My involvement started when I was unceremoniously joined to an existing lawsuit simply because I bought some of the assets of a friend’s company which had been under suit. I had been told by my friend that his lawyers said that this languishing civil suit simply had nowhere to go and was essentially over. They were wrong. I believe “this state” smelled fresh blood and hoped that I wouldn’t hire one of the top law firms in Texas to represent me, as my friend had done. I didn’t, but they have gotten more than they bargained for from a country boy with little more than a high school education. Instead, they found a “Man endowed by his Creator with certain unalienable Rights” who will stand and fight on principle alone with no fear and no concern for the consequences. I use no lawyers or attorneys; I simply go into the courtroom by special appearance “in propria persona” (in my own proper person) and stand on my God-given unalienable Rights as secured by Organic Law. To do otherwise would be a lie and would essentially accept the jurisdiction of those corrupted agencies and would also relinquish my Rights by virtue of presumption and tacit assent.
I have fought these powerful and corrupted “government” agencies and their team of “doctors of jurisprudence” to a standstill for three years without hiring any representation in the courtroom. Be assured, it isn’t my own superior intellect; it is simply standing on the truth against an “untruthful system along with studying the government’s own “court procedures”, the statutes and so-called regulations they purport to be suing us under, and most of all, by understanding our Rights secured by the Constitutions of The State of Texas and The United States of America. They often don’t follow their own “rules and procedures” and only give lip service to those Constitutions, which IS “The Supreme Law of The Land”.
Just a note here for those who do not know this fact; these Constitutions/Organic Laws do not give our Rights to us; those Rights are given by God. To Wit: “We are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable Rights, among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”- no equivocations, no ifs, ands or buts. These Constitutions are designed for the purpose of securing our Rights by placing shackles on “government” who would totally ignore the Rights of the People if left unfettered. Sadly, that is pretty much what they do, operating with impunity, deceit and trickery, using “terms of art” and procedures that the average man does not understand.
I am acutely aware that I’m there defending, not only myself and Utopia Silver, but the Rights of all Americans to choose our means of healthcare, our Right to take supplements without a doctor’s or the "government’s” consent, as well as our “Freedom of Speech Rights”. This case in a Texas State District civil court in Austin, Texas has been called “The Test Case” by Texas Attorney General prosecutors in one of our many judges chamber meetings, where the judge has attempted to broker an end to the lawsuit. In a nutshell, the issue is whether or not manufacturers and sellers of various supplements and/or their customers may exercise their "Right of Free Speech" in customer testimonials and comments, the citing of research, studies, and historical facts concerning the benefits of dietary supplements.
It is the “government” position that if you manufacture or sell a supplement or food and speak or write of any benefit, that supplement or food magically becomes a “new drug” and is subject to regulation as a drug. I was told face to face by the assistant Attorney General, in a meeting after things were moved from view of witnesses/court watchers in the courtroom that if I sold water and told of any benefits that they would consider it a drug! So in their minds and by “their rules”, nothing we consume has any mentionable benefit except “drugs”. This is truly the world of Oz and M.C. Escher. All I can say to that is, "That ain't my America my friend and it will be a cold day in the center of the Earth before I buy such a lie." As Winston Churchill once stated, "This is nonsense, up with which I shall not put."
I’m giving this synopsis of that civil court battle, because it has been overpowering evidence in my own life of God’s Divine Hand of Destiny. I and a few others have resolved to commit ourselves and our livelihoods to this all important battle to preserve some small piece of what is left of the “Land of the Brave and Home of the Free” that we inherited from our grandfathers and grandmothers. They may eventually win this one small skirmish simply by force and unlimited funds, but they will know they have been fighting with a worthy opponent …and guess what? They will ultimately loose this war, …of that I have no doubt.
I have because of these three years of tough (But exhilarating when you’re doing the Lord’s work and fighting for your country and winning.) legal battles, been required to be so objectively and coldly analytical of everything that happens around me, that it is difficult to know when to turn it on and when to turn it off. I even understand and have some empathy for anyone who spends their lives in a courtroom setting; you can easily end up losing your soul in this legal process that for many becomes little more than a “game to win" at all costs, even when one begins to have some sense of being “on the wrong side”. I see that in the eyes of my opponents every time I go to court. Some have obviously sold their soul, but others are good men who now understand the truth and can barely look me in the eyes. For one defending themselves against formidable adversaries, it becomes a survival instinct, much as an antelope might experience on the plains with an unseen lion constantly on the prowl in the tall grasses nearby. If that antelope for one second relaxes his guard, he could become the lion's next meal. After witnessing the extent that people in our own “government” will go to obtain a prosecution “win” through trickery, deceit and lying, one becomes instinctively wary of any situation and anyone they meet.
This system is one of intimidation and fear and I was actually told in one of our judges chamber meetings by a (probably honorable) man in the hierarchy of the “court system” that, “This system operates on fear, but you show no fear and that is a problem for us.” He was right, but it is nothing I can take credit for; that kind of fearlessness comes from knowing that the Lord is on our side in this battle of dealing with a system corrupted by the love of money/power. I have had to stand face to face against threats, intimidation, and deceit from prosecutors and judges, and by necessity having to analyze every word and “term of art”, every act, every expression, not to mention the cunning tricks used to presume and claim a jurisdiction that does not exist. The authority and jurisdiction they claim simply does not exist under “The Supreme Law of The Land”, except in some situations in which you may enter into an “agreement” knowingly, willingly, and voluntarily with full disclosure.
BUT, even that right kind of fearlessness in such a situation coupled with having to analyze everything happening around you can also translate into unintended callousness if allowed to carry over into other areas of life. If not controlled, it can cause us to walk “where angels fear to tread” and I know it is not the road I want to travel in my personal life. Sometimes, in becoming fearless in an arena of lions and warriors, one can become heartless in the arena of life where there still exists kind and gentle people who deserve no less that just that in return. There is a proper time and place to do battle, but there is also a time for the warrior to lay down that shield and to rest that spear in the corner. It brings to mind, verses in the Bible as stated, in part, in Ecclesiastes 3:
To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven:
A time to be born,
And a time to die;
A time to plant,
And a time to harvest;
A time to kill,
And a time to heal;
A time to break down,
And a time to build up;
A time to weep,
And a time to laugh;
A time to mourn,
And a time to dance;
A time to tear,
And a time to sew;
A time to keep silence,
And a time to speak;
A time to love,
And a time to hate;
A time of war,
And a time of peace.
Even things that are necessary and appropriate in their proper time and place become unnecessary and inappropriate in an improper place at an improper time. Basic survival instincts can affect our interaction with others and it is simply folly to live our life in distrust of everyone and everything around us. In allowing such instincts to rule us, we can inadvertently hurt the innocent among us. It isn’t healthy, it isn’t spiritually uplifting, and it will simply cost us dearly in the loss of special people who should be destined to be a valued part of our lives.
This brings to mind one of my favorite quotes by John Hancock: “In circumstances as dark as these, it becomes us, as Men and Christians, to reflect that whilst every prudent measure should be taken to ward off the impending judgments, …at the same time all confidence must be withheld from the means we use; and reposed only on that God rules in the armies of Heaven, and without His whole blessing, the best human counsels are but foolishness… Resolved; …Thursday the 11th of May…to humble themselves before God under the heavy judgments felt and feared, to confess the sins that have deserved them, to implore the Forgiveness of all our transgressions, and a spirit of repentance and reformation …and a Blessing on the … Union of the American Colonies in Defense of their Rights [for which hitherto we desire to thank Almighty God]…That the people of Great Britain and their rulers may have their eyes opened to discern the things that shall make for the peace of the nation…for the redress of America’s many grievances, the restoration of all her invaded liberties, and their security to the latest generations."
"A Day of Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer, with a total abstinence from labor and recreation. Proclamation on April 15, 1775"
I have great admiration for those who choose to live in the positive- not meaning that the harsh realities of life cannot be noted, understood, and planned for- but that there is a good and greater purpose to everything that happens in our life, even the bad, if we simply permit God’s Divine Hand of Destiny to have some small place in our lives.